Partisan Politics is Killing People, Literally

 “Misinformation is Killing People…” claims the LA Times in their July 22nd article regarding COVID vaccinations.
It’s not misinformation killing people, partisan politics is. We’re in an era where partisan politics has been at it’s absolute worst. We saw it on full display during the Trump administration, and even with Trump no longer in office, the battle worsens.

We are now at a point where partisan politics has become deadly – and it’s not just when it comes to COVID.
Ask a Democrat and they will tell you it’s the fault of Republicans. Ask a Republican and they will blame a Democrat. We’ve come to a point where we see the other as “evil”, as having the worst in mind for the Country, and with that there can be no “compromise” or working together. This is dangerous even in the best of times, let alone the worst of times.

Moderates seem not to exist anymore, or are demonized by both sides. Republicans decry how far left the Democrats have gone, as they themselves move further to the right. I guess this goes along with Newton’s Third Law of Motion,“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. That’s what we are seeing in politics today. The further left one goes, the further right the other goes, and the divide just widens.

We’ve seen Democrats who once stood for law and order, jumping on the bandwagon to defund the police, which has resulted in crime waves in most major cities. The result of this partisan extreme has become deadly to those in these major cities, most victims of which are people of color, which the left said they undertook these policies to protect this exact group of  people.

Republicans would be quick to point this out, but are they as quick to recognize what is going on with their own Party? We’ve seen Republicans who backed Trump’s effort to get a vaccine asap, refusing it once it came to fruition. Those who have pushed a return to normal asap, taking up a position which will only slow or reverse the effort. Those who wanted to get the economy up and roaring again, supporting what will stall it out once again. The worst comes with hospitals filling up with the unvaccinated, the numbers of deaths rising yet again with this new Delta variant. All of which could and should have been avoided with the vaccine.

COVID doesn’t care if you are Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative, whether you think God is on your side, or you don’t believe in God. It kills without prejudice. There was a time in America where a crisis like this would have brought people together, would have brought the best out in Americans, but sadly that’s not happened with COVID. Why is that? Partisan Politics.

I’ve watched sensible, intelligent people, suddenly buy into conspiracy theories about the virus and the vaccine. It’s as if they are searching for anything that backs up their view that the other side is up to no good. If you try to discuss the issue, even as someone who shares the same side of the aisle or political spectrum, you are instantly attacked for not falling in line with what “true conservatives believe”. These are the same tactics being employed on the left. It’s tribalism. Each must go to their opposite corners and dig their heels in.

I’ve come to see the political spectrum as not a line, but a circle, where the extremes of both sides, come together on one side of the circle, yet neither can see the similarities they share. 

I know that what I’m writing here, which is for a primarily conservative audience, probably won’t fare well, but we must take a stand even among our own. We have to somehow pull back from the edges of our ideologies, not just for the sake of our Country (which is most important) but the survival of our own ideology/Party. 

I’ve heard many talk about freedom and one’s rights when opposing the vaccine, but seem to forget that with these freedoms and rights, comes great responsibility. What about the freedom that comes from protecting yourself and others from COVID? The government shouldn’t force anyone to have the vaccine – because every able responsible adult should be getting vaccinated on their own accord without having to be forced to do so.

We live in a time where we are lucky to have medical advances that generations before us didn’t have. We also live in a Nation that could afford to be first in line and to buy enough supply for every American to receive their shot. Many Countries wish they were so lucky. We have the ability to save lives, and yet utilizing these amazing medical advances has become an ideological battle, one which is now costing the lives of many, unnecessarily. And it’s not just COVID killing people. As hospitals fill up, many people with other healrhcate emergencies will pay the price.

There are those who think the vaccine is a way for the government to control them, to even hurt or kill them. What they don’t realize is, it is their own actions that are leading to what they fear the government, or the left, is doing to them.
For once, let’s leave the partisan politics, and the misinformation it creates, aside, let’s stop the debates, the us vs them, and do the right thing – for the sake of our Country, our Party, our economy, for our health, our lives and our freedom – please, get the COVID vaccine.